


ice, ice baby

by marcel



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-09
Updated: 2015-10-10
Packaged: 2018-04-25 13:32:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 13,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4962493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marcel/pseuds/marcel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Superhero AU. There’s something about the new transfer student that makes Luhan want to know him better.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. ice ice baby

**Author's Note:**

> crossposting to ao3 1.5 yrs later.... the original LJ post is [here](http://moon-things.livejournal.com/15446.html). i. love this fic w all my heart i hope yall enjoy it too ♡

“Please blink,” Yixing says from the seat beside Luhan. “You’re starting to freak me out.”

 

Luhan tears his gaze away from the other side of the room to turn and squint at him. “Don’t you have some assignment you should be doing?”

“Don’t _you_?” Yixing counters, gesturing at the blank piece of paper on Luhan’s desk. Luhan considers it for a moment, then makes a face at Yixing and turns away again. Yixing sighs.

“Seriously, are you alright?” He follows Luhan’s gaze to a boy sitting near the front of the classroom. “You’ve been staring at that kid since he walked in--”

“His name is Minseok,” Luhan corrects, leaning his chin on his hands as he watches the boy in question, “and I have not.” He misses the incredulous look Yixing gives him, and bats away the hand Yixing waves in front of his face.

“We’ve had transfer students before, and you were never this weird about any of them.”

Luhan frowns, but doesn’t look away from the boy across the room. “I’m not being weird.”

“We must have different definitions of the word,” Yixing deadpans, and Luhan sticks his tongue out at him.

“He’s just,” Luhan starts, but pauses and furrows his brow, thinking about it. “It’s his-- he’s-- there’s just. Something.”

Yixing rolls his eyes and turns back to his work, and Luhan resumes watching Minseok.

He’s not completely sure what the something is, if he’s honest - maybe it’s to do with the way Minseok had walked into the room, or how his voice had sounded when he introduced himself. Or maybe the line of his shoulders, or the curve of his jaw that Luhan can see even from where he’s sitting on the other side of the classroom.

It’s something, though, that makes Luhan want to know Minseok as _Minseok_ , and not just ‘that kid’ or ‘the transfer student’.

The problem is that Luhan has yet to even speak to him. Minseok sits on the opposite side of the room and hasn’t looked at him at all, aside from his quick glance around when he was giving his introduction to the class. Luhan half-wishes he had gone through with his original idea of shoving Yixing out of the chair beside him when Minseok was looking for an empty seat.

He just needs a reason to speak with Minseok, something better than ‘You seem intriguing! Let’s be friends!’ - and, preferably, less weird.

When the teacher asks for someone willing to help their new student catch up with concepts from earlier in the year, Luhan shoots his hand into the air, nearly smacking Yixing in the face as he does. It’s pretty much perfect. Himself - charming and responsible - offering his help to poor, confused Minseok. In his head he can already see them sitting together at the library at some secluded table, can imagine himself leaning over to point something out in Minseok’s work and the way their arms would brush--

“Thank you, but I don’t need any extra help,” Minseok speaks up, polite and pleasant-sounding even as he turns the offer down. “I’m sure I’ll be fine on my own.” The teacher nods, looking a little surprised, but smiles at him all the same.

In Luhan’s mind, the library collapses.

 

\--

 

Luhan drags his feet the whole way out the school gates, falling a few steps behind Yixing to nurse his broken heart and wounded pride. He could whine for some sympathy, but he considers the violence he almost wished upon Yixing’s person earlier and decides not to distract him from whatever he’s laughing about with Yifan and Zitao.

The four of them made a habit of walking home together years ago, even making a special detour during the year Zitao was the only one still in middle school. Luhan isn’t uncomfortable going alone, but he’s had enough after-school-safety lessons drilled into his brain for one lifetime, and doesn’t want to risk getting any more lectures.

He’s become so used to seeing kids traveling in groups that the one lone student walking the same way as him catches his eye, but it’s not until they get to a corner and the student turns in the opposite direction from Luhan’s friends that he realizes it’s Minseok.

Luhan manages another four steps and then stops. “Go on ahead,” he calls to the others, already walking backwards when they turn to raise their eyebrows at him. He waves a little, then turns around and follows Minseok down the other street.

He’s not entirely sure what he’s doing, but everything he’s ever been warned about the streets is flooding back into his mind, and he breaks into a jog to catch up with the other boy.

“Hey,” Luhan says once he’s only a couple steps behind, and Minseok whirls around, startled. Luhan stops in front of him. “Didn’t anyone tell you not to walk alone?”

“Uh,” says Minseok. “No? Why, are we not supposed to?”

Luhan stares at him. “Are you-- are you serious?” Minseok only blinks in response. “Has no one told you anything about this city? Did your parents not, like, look up crime rates before you moved here?”

Minseok’s eyebrows go up a little. Luhan resists the urge to roll his eyes.

“Whatever, just-- you shouldn’t go anywhere in the city alone, okay?” It’s weird, trying to explain it to someone when Luhan’s been hearing it his entire life. “It’s dangerous.”

“How dangerous?” Minseok asks. Luhan very nearly does a double-take (people usually take ‘dangerous’ at face-value, not wonder about the specific calibre), but Minseok looks genuinely curious. “I mean, how much good does it do to travel in a group instead of alone?”

Luhan squints at him. “It’s... more about not looking like an easy target,” he explains slowly. “You and I both fall into the category of ‘scrawny defenseless teenager’, sadly.” Minseok makes a face like he disagrees, but Luhan knows they don’t have time to discuss their physiques in the middle of the sidewalk.

“Look, I’ll walk you to your house, okay?” He reaches out and tugs on Minseok’s sleeve, taking a step in the direction he had been heading. “Tomorrow too, if you don’t have anyone else. Just don’t go alone.”

Minseok gives Luhan a look he can’t quite read, but starts walking again. Relieved, Luhan lets him lead the way, and they continue up the street quietly.

It wasn’t always as dangerous as it is to walk around alone, but Luhan has only a select few memories of the parts of his life during which he didn’t have a strict before-dark curfew. To say the city has a crime problem is a bit of an understatement and more of a lived-around fact - one too many judges paid off to let one too many mobsters slide, or something to that effect. Luhan looked it up once, when he was 13 and eager for change and finally allowed into the teen-and-up section of the library. Nowadays he knows change won’t happen overnight, and settles for helping in small ways when the opportunity arises - like making sure the new transfer student isn’t walking home alone on his first day.

Which, he realizes, isn’t going entirely according to his original plan. The first impression Luhan had imagined giving was smooth and charming, suave, even - but he didn’t quite achieve any of those when he ran up to Minseok and practically latched himself onto him. He glances at Minseok and feels a bit like he’s ended up closer to a boyscout image than anything suave, like he’s skipped over the dinner part of their first date and got right to the awkward walking home.

Minseok stops walking suddenly, and Luhan breaks out of his thoughts to look around at the neighbourhood they’ve ended up in, and then at the house in front of them.

“So,” Minseok says, glancing at Luhan and away again. “You can...” He makes a vague sort of shrugging gesture, which Luhan takes to mean something along the lines of _please leave, you’re creeping me out_.

“Yeah,” he says quickly, stepping back, but then pauses, and when Minseok blinks at him expectantly, Luhan can’t help the words that come out. “Sorry if this was, you know, weird, or something?” He shuffles his feet, trying to look at anything but Minseok. “Like, walking you home, I guess, or-- sorry if it’s, I don’t know, too forward--”

“No, it’s fine,” Minseok says, waving off the confused look Luhan gives him. “You just want people to be safe, right?”

He’s even smiling a little, and Luhan swallows thickly. Minseok has a very nice smile.

“I-- yeah, I guess?” He clears his throat, trying to channel his smooth and charming alter-ego. “I’ll-- I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” Minseok agrees, waving a little. Luhan nods and turns to leave. “Ah, but-- wait.”

Luhan immediately spins back around, eyebrows raised. “I thought you said people shouldn’t walk around alone,” Minseok reminds him. Luhan shrugs.

“I’ll be okay,” he says, walking backwards a few steps before turning around again. He tries his best to make his speed-walking look natural as he goes back the way they’d come, and when he peeks over his shoulder at the corner of the street, Minseok is nowhere to be seen. 

 

\--

 

Later, a few streets away, Luhan slips off the busy sidewalk and instead picks his way through the shaded alleys between buildings. He hasn’t taken this route in a while, but it’s easier to think without the noise of the main roads in his ears, and he welcomes the quiet. Luhan knows he really should take his own advice - Minseok had a point - but he allows himself this bit of time to be entirely on his own before he reaches his neighbourhood and rejoins the real world.

Minseok, though. Luhan’s mind pauses on his name, and replays the small smile the other boy had given him. He’s pretty sure Minseok didn’t smile at all while they were in class, and he feels proud, for a moment, that he was able to get that response out of Minseok when no one else could - then shakes his head, dispelling the thought. Minseok probably smiled at people all the time. Luhan had nothing to do with it.

He reaches the end of the last alley emerges onto the sidewalk. The first houses in his neighbourhood are visible just across the street, and Luhan walks the rest of the way home pretending his thoughts don’t stray back to Minseok.

 

\--

 

Despite the not-quite-disastrous goodbye with Minseok from the day before, Luhan enters the classroom with a new determination to make a better impression. Ignoring his classmates’ before-class chatter, he trains his eyes on Minseok, sitting at his desk with a book in hand, and stands up a little straighter. He strides across the front of the room, shoulders back and head high, purposely passing directly in front of Minseok’s desk. When he reaches his seat and glances back over his shoulder, though, Minseok’s eyes are still glued to his book.

Heaving a sigh, Luhan slumps into his chair. He’s barely begun to sulk when Zitao appears beside him, nearly vibrating with excitement.

Luhan squints at him. “Isn’t your classroom one floor down?”

Ignoring him, Zitao slaps a hastily-cut-out newspaper article down on his desk. “Ge, have you seen this?”

The article features two different men’s mugshots, and Luhan leans forward a little to skim it. “This morning, two men… well-known criminals… found on the front steps of the police station?” He looks up at Zitao, eyebrows raised. “What’s so interesting about two guys turning themselves in?”

“They didn’t,” Zitao huffs. “Keep reading.”

“‘Showing signs of hypothermia and apparent frostbite’,” Luhan quotes, narrowing his eyes at the article. “It’s March, though, how could they--”

Zitao rolls his eyes and snatches the article away. “Nevermind, ge, you’re missing the point.” With that, he flounces over to Yifan’s desk instead.

Luhan doesn’t get what’s so interesting about it - one or two arrests doesn’t add up to much in the swing of things, and it really isn’t cold enough for frostbite at this time of year. Even so, everyone in the room seems to be chattering about the article, so Luhan lets his gaze wander again and does his best to tune them out.

He ends up, as is becoming natural as of late, staring at the back of Minseok’s head from across the room. The other boy is still reading, as far as Luhan can tell, and he realizes, belatedly, that Minseok is the only other one that doesn’t seem interested in the article either.

Yixing chooses that moment to slide into the seat beside Luhan, making him jump. “Good morning to you, too,” he says, laughing when Luhan shoves him lightly. He slings his arm over Luhan’s shoulders, tugging him closer. “Hey, where did you disappear to yesterday?”

Almost unconsciously, Luhan’s gaze flickers back over to Minseok. Yixing whistles. “Oh, I see.”

“Don’t start,” Luhan says, shrugging his arm off. “I just wanted to make a good first impression.”

“By following him around on his first day?” Yixing blinks. “That’s… an impression, I guess.”

Luhan sprawls forward across his desk. “It’s not what you think,” he whines, and Yixing pats his shoulder as the bell rings and class starts.

 

\--

 

It gets a little better after school, when Luhan is lingering by the school gate and trying to decide whether he should wait for Minseok or not. There’s a chance that he might’ve already left, having taken Luhan’s advice and found someone else to walk with, and Luhan doesn’t want to hang around all alone if Minseok isn’t even coming - but then someone taps his shoulder, and Luhan whirls around to see Minseok smirking at him.

“You okay?” Minseok asks as they set off, and Luhan nods, trying his best to hide his relieved smile.

Their walk is quiet though, borderline awkward - or, at least, it is for Luhan. Maybe Minseok is the type who prefers to walk in silence. Luhan starts a conversation anyway.

“Did you see the paper today?” he asks, trying to sound casual. “There were a couple arrests earlier this morning.”

Minseok hums. “That’s what everyone in class was talking about, right?”

“Yeah, Zitao showed pretty much everyone.”

“I didn’t read it,” Minseok says, shrugging. Luhan’s heart sinks as the topic is shot down. “What did you think of it?”

Luhan splutters a little. “What did I--? Oh.” He swallows nervously. “Well. It’s...” Hesitating, he glances at the other boy. If he were to tell Zitao - or even Yixing - about the strange points in the article, they would just blame it on his imagination getting away from him. But Minseok...

“It’s weird,” he finally says, letting the words out in a rush. “Why would two wanted criminals, with hypothermia or without, decide to stop in front of the police station, of all places? And they were completely knocked out. It’d make more sense if they’d been drinking, but there was no alcohol. And how could two full-grown men get hypothermia in the middle of March, anyway? It’s cold at night, but not cold enough for anyone to freeze.”

Luhan looks over at Minseok then, prepared for laughter or a weird look, but Minseok looks thoughtful, nodding a little like he’s really considering Luhan’s points. “So on one hand, it’s good to have two less criminals on the street, but at the same time it doesn’t make a lot of sense.”

“Yeah,” Luhan finishes lamely. He’s amazed, more than anything, that Minseok wanted to hear his opinion, and he almost trips off the sidewalk when they suddenly stop in front of Minseok’s house.

“You have a really interesting take on it,” Minseok says to him, and Luhan blinks a few times in response.

“Uh - thank you?” He rubs the back of his neck. “Sorry for rambling.”

“Not a problem,” Minseok says with a smile, starting towards the house. “See you tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow,” Luhan agrees, smiling back, and he resists the urge to skip down the street as he leaves.

 

\--

 

After cutting through the alleys to make his way home, Luhan sits on his bed with his workbook open in his lap and thinks about Minseok instead of studying.

He’s not really sure why Minseok let him walk home with him earlier, especially when he just talked about the newspaper the whole time. Maybe for entertainment? But Minseok hadn’t laughed at anything he said, even just out of disbelief. And in class he hadn’t looked interested in the article at all...

Or, Luhan considers, flopping onto his back and staring up at the ceiling, maybe his first impression wasn’t as entirely awful as he thought it was. Still, he wants to show Minseok that he’s not weird - or at least, not too weird to be his friend.

Friends with Minseok, Luhan thinks, folding his hands behind his head. He could deal with that.

 

\--

 

It becomes routine for the two of them to walk to Minseok’s house together after school, and for Luhan to take back-street shortcuts to get home afterwards. He gets a lecture from Yixing about the latter (and half of another from Yifan before Zitao drags him away for one reason or another), but even he has to admit that it’s better for Luhan to go alone than for Minseok. Luhan is alright with it though, if only just because he and Minseok don’t have a lot of time to interact during the school day, and the walk home is like a little bit of time just for them. Luhan isn’t sure if that’s how Minseok sees it, but he lets a small part of himself hope so.

The strange half-frozen criminal arrests also become a sort of routine, as almost every day there’s a new story about some street thug delivered to the police station doorstep. It’s a common topic of conversation during Minseok and Luhan’s walks, especially with how the last bit of winter is all but faded away and yet these people keep showing up slightly frosty.

Luhan is grateful that Minseok listens to him - it’s not that Yixing and his other friends don’t, but he knows that they wouldn’t be actually interested in his theories like Minseok is.

“What if they’re smuggling something into the city,” Luhan suggests one day, and beside him, Minseok raises an eyebrow. “Like, in a giant freezer or something. Or what if they have submarines waiting in the ocean somewhere, and they’re weeding out the weakest gang members that can’t swim and end up freezing in the water?”

“The city isn’t on the coast, though,” Minseok points out. “Plus, none of those arrested have been half-drowned.”

Luhan hums, tapping his chin. “What if their gang hideouts have been infiltrated, so they’ve been having meetings in those freezer-basements of butcher shops?”

Minseok laughs. “What is it with you and giant freezers?”

“It has to be something no one else has thought of,” Luhan insists, stepping off the curb as they come to a crosswalk. He doesn’t realize the light hasn’t quite turned until a car honks at him loudly, and Minseok pulls him back before he walks into traffic.

“Are you alright?” Minseok asks once they’re back on the sidewalk, gripping his hand tightly.

Luhan blinks a few times, off-balance. “Yeah, I’m - I’m fine, just. Cold.” He looks down at their hands, still joined. “Your hands are freezing.”

Minseok immediately lets go, dropping Luhan’s hand like he realized belatedly that it was hurting him. He looks more shaken than Luhan feels.

“Did I scare you that much?” Luhan asks jokingly, then whines and rubs his shoulder. “You could’ve dislocated something! Don’t pull so hard next time.”

“Next time?” Minseok scoffs. “There shouldn’t be a next time, you idiot! Be more careful!”

Luhan just grins. Minseok punches him lightly but smiles anyway, and they keep walking, making sure to look both ways before crossing every street.

Later, at home, Luhan thinks about Minseok’s fingers around his own, and how cold they were where they pressed into his skin.

 

\--

 

A few days later the front page is taken up by an interview with a man who claims that there’s a person responsible for the recent delivery of criminals, and that he’s seen him in action. Some sort of masked crusader who jumped down from a rooftop and sat an out-cold street thug down on the steps of the police station before disappearing into the night. The interview is coupled with a photo - grainy and taken on a shitty cellphone camera in the dark, but still a photo.

Luhan cuts it out to show to Minseok on their walk, turning it sideways and upside down in an attempt to make out the symbol on the blurry figure’s chest. “I’m not seeing things, right? There’s definitely something shiny there.”

Beside him, Minseok snickers. Luhan pouts at him. “Okay, whatever. But even with the photo, how could it be just one person turning all these people in?” He turns the photo right side up again. “Is that even possible?”

Minseok shrugs. “Why wouldn’t it be?”

“Well, maybe if he had armor or something,” Luhan says, squinting at the grainy image. “I mean, to be able to have knocked those guys out… He doesn’t look-- I don’t know, tall enough.”

Minseok squawks and tries to snatch the photo away, but Luhan tugs it out of his reach. “You’re not exactly a skyscraper, either!” Minseok huffs.

“I’m also not spending my nights fighting off bad guys in the streets,” Luhan points out, folding the photo carefully and tucking it into his pocket. “Maybe if I had less homework.”

 

\--

 

After the photo is released, the guy in the mask - if he’s even the one responsible, Luhan minds - stops dropping criminals by the police station and instead leaves them unconscious in alleys and side streets. Luhan still can’t come up with any plausible reason for the partially-frozen state they’re being found in, but he’s confident in his theory about the rest.

“The photo must’ve freaked him out,” he explains, an almost literal bounce in his step as he walks beside Minseok. “If people know his drop-off spot, they’ll wait around with cameras to try and get a better shot. This way, he can keep himself safe.”

Minseok snorts. “From what? If this guy can take out dangerous street criminals by himself, what’s he got to worry about?”

“From, well.” Luhan pauses, thinking for a moment. “If he becomes some public figure... then he’ll have a sort of obligation to stay here and help the city until… whenever. But if he keeps away from that sort of spotlight and stays anonymous, he can just come and go as he likes. No expectations, no strings attached.”

Minseok seems a little stunned at first, but then shakes his head in disbelief. “How do you come up with this stuff?” he laughs, rolling his eyes playfully. “You’re making him sound like some sort of cold-hearted superhero.”

“Maybe he _is_ a superhero,” Luhan huffs, trying to jab him with his elbow, but Minseok dodges away, giggling. He pokes Luhan in the ribs before taking off down the street, and Luhan chases him nearly all the way to his doorstep.

They’re both breathing hard from the sprinting and the laughing, but they manage goodbyes and see-you-tomorrows without collapsing on the sidewalk. Neither can stop smiling, and even as Luhan waves and turns to leave, he keeps the image of Minseok’s happy grin in his mind. He’s taken only two steps away from the other boy when he’s suddenly struck by a surge of confidence - or maybe just endorphins from the exercise, he’s not entirely sure - and he spins back around to face Minseok again.

“Um,” Luhan says. A weaker start than he had expected. “As a very last-minute topic change - homework.”

Minseok blinks at him, an almost-smile playing on his lips. Luhan swallows.

“I know you said - when you first arrived, I mean - that you didn’t want any extra help, but I-- we could, if you want-- there’s a library, and we could…?” He trails off, hoping Minseok will pick up on his meaning, but Minseok only raises his eyebrows, looking a bit amused.

“We could what?”

“We could go to the library,” Luhan says in a rush. “Together. If you want.”

“Oh,” Minseok says. “Um.”

Luhan holds his breath, preparing himself for rejection and the inevitable melting into the sidewalk that will follow. Minseok, however, surprises him.

“Not this week,” he says. “I don’t have time this week. But on the weekend? If you want?”

_I do want_ , Luhan almost says. “Sure,” he manages instead, and even smiles.

Minseok nods, smiling back. “Here, I’ll give you my number so we can figure out a time.” He holds his palm out, and Luhan wills his own hand not to shake as he passes his cellphone over.

He’s worried, for a moment, that when Minseok gives his phone back he’s going to say “it’s a date!” with a smile, and Luhan will actually melt into the pavement. Minseok doesn’t, though, luckily, and they say goodbye one more time before Luhan heads back down the street, his phone clutched tightly in his hand.

 

\--

 

That night, lying on his bed and staring up at the ceiling, Luhan wonders what other things Minseok has to do that week - does he have a job? Maybe some other friends that he hangs out with? Not that he and Luhan really hang out; they just walk together for a bit and then go separate ways.

But - oh god - they’re going to hang out for real, for the first time ever, at the library on the weekend. Luhan panics. He needs at least a few days to prepare himself.

He almost texts Minseok to claim a sudden onset of the flu, but when he grabs his phone off his bedside table, there’s already a message from Minseok, suggesting Sunday afternoon. Luhan’s panic melts away into a strange sort of fluttering in his stomach, and he nearly drops his phone on his face when he tries to tap out a reply.

 

\--

 

When Sunday finally comes, though, the panic is back full-force and Luhan paces around his bedroom for the majority of the day. What if Minseok had only said yes to be nice to him? What if after they spend more than fifteen minutes together, Minseok finds him annoying? Or what if the shirt he’s wearing isn’t a colour Minseok likes, and it puts him off for their whole meeting?

He changes his shirt four times before flopping face first on his bed and groaning into his blankets. The more rational part of his brain knows that it’s dumb to stress so much over going to the library with someone, but Luhan has already worried so much that the what-ifs cloud over everything else.

But there is one what-if that he imagined up on Minseok’s very first day, and his mind flits to it as he rolls over onto his back. Sitting together in the library, leaning in just a bit too close, accidental touches, and something new that his brain comes up with as he stares up at the ceiling: the way Minseok’s lips would part, soft and pink, just before they--

An alarm on his phone shrieks suddenly, and Luhan nearly has a heart attack before he remembers that he set it so he’d know when to leave his house to meet up with Minseok on time. He turns it off and takes a few deep breaths before standing up. Glancing at himself in his mirror, he takes a moment to channel the charming suave guy he knows is hidden somewhere in his psyche before leaving his bedroom.

By the time he’s skipping down the front steps of his house, the fluttery feeling is back, and he has to stop himself from smiling for no reason in the middle of the street. It’s still a little scary, the thought of properly hanging out with Minseok, but Luhan’s excitement is slowly overriding all the worries he had.

That is, until his phone buzzes in his pocket when he’s only a couple streets away, lighting up with a text from Minseok. Luhan stops in the middle of the sidewalk to read the message.

_Sorry, something came up and I can’t meet you today. Can we reschedule?_

Luhan expects the heart-sinking feeling he’s becoming so used to, but instead he feels more like everything inside him has disappeared at once, both the giddiness and the worries, and there’s nothing ready to fill the space left over. He puts his phone back in his pocket and turns around.

It’s stupid to be upset. They made the plan only a few days ago, and Minseok had made clear that he would be busy during the week, so why wouldn’t he also be busy on the weekend? It isn’t that big of a deal - they were only going to the library, anyway.

He shouldn’t be upset, but he is, and Luhan takes a moment to be angry at himself for liking Minseok so much when they’ve just barely become friends.

He shouldn’t have gotten his hopes up. He resigns himself to this and decides, ducking into an alley, to take the long way home. The air feels colder under the shadows of the buildings framing the narrow back street, making each breath he takes sting a little. Luhan welcomes it.

 

\--

 

The sun goes down faster than Luhan expects it to, and he’s only a little more than halfway home when he looks up and realizes that he’s basically walking around in the dark. He can still find his way, but the back streets are a little more disconcerting when they’re lit by moonlight.

He doesn’t hear the voices until he’s already turning the corner and finds himself faced with three men standing together at the other end of the alley. Luhan freezes, hoping he’s still far enough in the shadows that they haven’t noticed him. He’s seen street thugs before, just never had them directly in his path, blocking his route home - but that’s the least of his worries when one of them passes a briefcase to the other two. Luhan really doesn’t feel like being a witness to an illegal transaction today.

He tries to back away slowly and retrace his steps, but his heel hits a trash can when he swings it back and the lid clatters loudly to the ground. All three of the men immediately look over at him. Luhan turns around and makes a run for it.

Or he tries to, at least, but sprinting isn’t as easy in narrow alleys in the pitch-dark, and he doesn’t make it far before one of the men catches up and snags him by the hood of his jacket. It hits him, when he’s being dragged back to the other two, that this is the most danger he’s ever been in. He struggles, but even the sudden rush of adrenaline doesn’t do much against the thug’s vice-like grip on him.

Hands fist in Luhan’s collar and he’s shoved roughly into the wall of the alley, his head knocking painfully against the concrete. He squeezes his eyes shut, partly from the sharp ache that goes through his skull, but mostly because he’s fucking terrified. He’s pretty sure whoever is holding him against the wall is saying something, shouting at him, but the ringing in his ears blocks it out.

He dimly registers another noise from above them before the hands on him are ripped away, and he slides down the wall as his knees buckle under him. Gasping, Luhan opens his eyes and tries to focus on the scuffle in front of him.

One of the men - the one that was holding onto him, he guesses - is sprawled on the ground before him. The other two are a little further off, fighting with someone. Luhan squints but can’t quite tell who their opponent is, not with how fast they’re darting around the two thugs. The fight only lasts a few seconds before both of the men seem to suddenly lose their footing and crash to the ground, and before they can get up, their opponent moves to stand over them, hands extended. There’s a crackling sound, and the men on the ground stop moving.

Luhan’s head still hurts a lot, but he’s pretty sure he’s not imagining the frost that creeps over their bodies and up the walls of the alley, as if a sudden winter wind is blowing through and covering everything with cold. But there is no wind, only the figure standing over the two motionless thugs - who, Luhan realizes belatedly, has a certain shiny symbol on his chest.

The figure steps over the men on the ground and rushes over to him, crouching by his side. There’s a mask over his eyes, and he’s wearing some skin-tight sort of jumpsuit, black with a silver star symbol over his chest - or is it a diamond? Something with triangles? Luhan’s head hurts too much to focus on it. He’s never met a superhero before - at least, probably a superhero, if the frost powers were anything to go by - so he tries his best to keep his eyes open.

“Are you alright?” the superhero asks, gloved hands running lightly over Luhan’s shoulders. Luhan tries to nod, but winces when his skull throbs painfully. Catching on, the superhero gently tilts his head to the side to check for damage. His fingers brush over the back of Luhan’s head until he finds the bump and Luhan hisses, squeezing his eyes shut.

“Ah, you really got hit hard,” the superhero murmurs. When he presses his hands over the bump again, his palm feels cold, as if he were holding an icepack. It feels a bit better, and Luhan shivers, opening his eyes again to take a better look at his saviour.

The mask covers his eyes and curves slightly over his cheekbones, and his hair, reddish even in the dark, is styled up so it doesn’t fall onto his forehead. Luhan can’t make out enough of his features to truly commit the superhero’s face to memory, but at least up close he can tell that the shiny silver symbol is definitely a snowflake. Without thinking, he reaches up to run his hand over the material.

The superhero doesn’t flinch away, but he looks down at Luhan’s hand and back up to his face, the mask making his expression unreadable. Luhan feels like he should say something, but what is there to say after someone comes out of nowhere to save your life in a dark alley?

A thank-you, maybe. Do people usually thank superheroes that save them? Do superheroes usually save people? Luhan doesn’t have enough damsel-in-distress etiquette on hand for this situation.

“You shouldn’t be here,” the superhero says before Luhan can open his mouth. “Haven’t people told you it’s not safe to walk around alone?”

“I know it isn’t,” Luhan says weakly. Getting lectured about safety by a superhero. He’s not sure why he didn’t expect this. “But I’ve done it before. I didn’t think this would happen.”

“Of course you didn’t,” the superhero sighs, glancing over his shoulder at the unmoving forms of the three men. When he turns back to Luhan, he slips his hand away from where it had been cradling the back of his head. “Can you stand?”

Luhan nods, but the superhero still has to help him to his feet. Without the cold touch, the pain in his skull turns back into a dull throb, and he can feel the adrenaline seeping out of his system. He realizes, somewhere in the tired haze, that he’s around the same height as the superhero. It doesn’t quite match with his tall, muscle-y mental image of a stereotypical hero, but this one saved his life, so he supposes it’s alright. He lets the superhero lead him through the alley and onto another street, not really paying attention to where they’re going, and before he knows it, they end up outside his house.

He nearly falls over as soon as the superhero lets go of him, his legs suddenly wobbly. He does his best to make it look like he half-collapses on his front steps on purpose, but the superhero immediately crouches down in front of him again, one hand gently cupping the back of his head and the other tilting his face up. His hands are cold but soothing, and Luhan closes his eyes.

“Hey,” the superhero says, nudging him a little. “Don’t pass out on me. I don’t think you have a concussion, but-- hey. Luhan, look at me.”

“I’m not passing out,” Luhan huffs. “My head is pounding, give me a minute.”

The superhero drops one of his hands but keeps the other over Luhan’s injury, sighing almost like he’s relieved. Luhan opens his eyes slowly, half expecting the superhero to get up and and leave as soon as he does. Instead, he shifts a little closer to Luhan.

“Why were you on your own?” the superhero asks quietly. Luhan stares for a few seconds, not really sure if he heard correctly. It’s none of the superhero’s business, really, and yet he takes a breath in to explain anyway.

“I was meeting up with someone,” Luhan says, looking down, “but he cancelled at the last minute and I had to go back by myself.” The superhero might tense up a little, Luhan can’t tell for sure in the dark. He looks up at his mask with his eyebrows raised. “What does it matter to you?”

The superhero laughs a little, then lets his hand fall away from Luhan’s head as he stands up. Luhan blinks up at him, bewildered, but he only shakes his head and starts stepping back.

“Sorry,” he says, and when he reaches the sidewalk, he turns around and disappears into the dark beyond the streetlights.

Luhan stares after him for a while before the nighttime air makes him shiver, but he still sits on the doorstep for a little longer, thinking about cold fingers sliding through his hair and gentle pressure on the back of his head.

 

\--

 

Maybe a little concussed, Luhan stays home from school the next day. His first thought upon waking up in the mid-afternoon is a consideration of how weird his dreams are getting, but then the throbbing in his skull catches up with him. Some bits are a little fuzzy, but he definitely remembers meeting a real life superhero, and he’s pretty sure his brain couldn’t make that up.

He stays in bed until his mother calls up the stairs that someone is there to deliver the homework he’d missed, and only then manages to sit up and shake himself out of his thoughts. He and Yixing have had a mutual homework delivery agreement since somewhere around third grade. Luhan had texted him earlier with some minor details -  _nearly died in an alley, got away w a concussion instead :/ bring me suncakes ♥_ \- but had left out the part about being rescued and walked home by a superhero. He figures it’s something that needs to be explained in person.

Except, the boy who knocks timidly on his door before entering isn’t Yixing at all, and Luhan tells him as much. Minseok just smiles and drops a stack of papers on Luhan’s desk.

Luhan isn’t complaining, though. He leans back on his palms as Minseok pulls his desk chair over to the bed and sits across from him. He looks a little uncomfortable, and Luhan realizes that this is the first time Minseok has been inside his house at all. Also the first time inside his bedroom. Minseok is in his bedroom, and Luhan hasn’t even brushed his teeth today.

“I asked Yixing if I could come here with him,” Minseok explains, while Luhan attempts to discreetly check how awful his breath is, “but he had to help Zitao with something after school, so.” He shrugs. “It’s just me.”

Luhan narrows his eyes a little - usually Zitao’s homework help was Yifan’s job, not Yixing’s - but Minseok doesn’t notice, looking down and shuffling his feet on the carpet.

“He-- Yixing told me what happened,” he continues, quieter than before. “The alley, you getting attacked, and-- I’m sorry.”

Luhan raises his eyebrows. “For what?”

“If I had messaged you earlier, you wouldn’t have been there,” Minseok mumbles, looking miserable. “You wouldn’t have gotten hurt.”

“It’s not your fault,” Luhan says quickly, eager to get the sad expression off Minseok’s face. “I’m the one that decided to take that route. Besides, it’s just a bump.” He brushes his fingers over the spot, and it only aches a little. “It builds character, or something.”

Minseok snorts. Grinning, Luhan sits up a little straighter on the bed. “And you know, that guy that’s been in the papers - don’t laugh or anything,” he warns, “but I think he, like. Rescued me.”

They’re silent for a few seconds, Minseok visibly trying to hold back his laughter, before Luhan huffs and crosses his arms. “I’m serious!”

“I’m sure you are,” Minseok says, struggling not to smile. “But… just how hard did you hit your head?”

Luhan pouts. “Honestly, I remember it! He beat up three guys and somehow froze them - literally. And then…” He blinks, struggling with the memory. “He checked if I was hurt… his hands were really cold, like, even through his gloves. He took me back to my house, and…” Luhan frowns. “And he knew my name.”

“Weird,” Minseok agrees after a pause. “Um, listen, Luhan--”

“Oh, what time is it?” Luhan glances at the clock on his bedside table. “It’ll get dark soon, you should get going.” He jumps off the bed and grabs Minseok’s wrist, pulling him up and leading him to the door. Minseok opens his mouth to protest but Luhan waves him off, smiling. “If you wait any longer, you’ll be walking home in the dark. Am I not enough of a cautionary tale for you?”

Minseok pulls him back anyway, making them pause in the doorway. Luhan gives him a confused look, waiting for him to speak, but Minseok looks down at the floor instead, keeping his mouth shut. Luhan watches him for a few seconds, then lets his hand slide down to cover Minseok’s.

“I’m fine,” he says gently. “You can go, it’s okay.”

Minseok looks up at him and smiles a little sadly, but nods. He squeezes Luhan’s fingers before taking his hand back and leaving the room.

Luhan stays in the doorway until he hears the front door close, then flops back down on his bed. He stares up at the ceiling, flexing his fingers - Minseok’s hands were cold again - and wondering what it was that Minseok didn’t say.

 

\--

 

Luhan goes back to school the next day, but Minseok’s desk is empty. Yixing nudges him from time to time, reminding him that it’s weird to frown across the room at an unoccupied seat, but Luhan can’t help worrying.

“Maybe he got sick,” Zitao suggests during their lunch hour. “It’s been really cold at night, hasn’t it?”

“But he seemed fine just yesterday,” Luhan whines. “He’s not answering my texts, either.”

“Maybe he knows you shouldn’t be texting in class,” Yifan says. Luhan ignores him.

“Try again after school, okay?” Yixing tells him, slinging his arm over Luhan’s slumped shoulders. “If he doesn’t answer, maybe go check on him in person. You know where his house is, right?”

Luhan nods. He’s had the route memorized for a while. “Maybe he does just have a cold or something,” he eventually sighs, relaxing a little. Yixing pats his shoulder and steers the conversation elsewhere, and Luhan tries to resist counting the minutes until the end-of-school bell.

He manages to wait until he’s home to message Minseok, but still gets no answer. He tries again the next day, and the day after, until the whole week has gone by and Minseok still hasn’t messaged him back or shown up to school. Luhan is more worried than ever, and walks determinedly to Minseok’s house after school on Friday. He hopes Minseok isn’t deathly ill or something, but at the same time he’s pretty sure that’s one of the only excuses he’ll accept at this point.

It’s weird to actually walk up the steps to Minseok’s front door, having only ever waved goodbye at the foot of them, but Luhan swallows back all the nervousness and manages to knock. After a few moments he hears shuffling footsteps, and the door opens to reveal a young woman.

“Hi,” Luhan says, willing his voice not to crack. He had been expecting Minseok’s parents to be around the same age as his own, but this woman looks barely 30. “Is - is Minseok here?”

The woman raises her eyebrows. “I’m sorry, who?”

Luhan repeats the name, confused, but the woman shakes her head. “There’s no one by that name that lives here,” she says. “Are you sure you have the right house?”

Luhan blinks, stunned. “I - I guess not,” he forces out, and stumbles back down the steps when she closes the door. He stands on the sidewalk and looks up and down the street, pausing on each house just to make sure he had gone to the right one, but he’s sure the door he had knocked on was the one he had been walking Minseok to for weeks.

If Minseok didn’t actually live there, then why had he led Luhan to believe that he did? And more importantly, where was Minseok now? It had been almost an entire week with no sign of him, and with the house a dead-end, Luhan has no idea where to look. He closes his eyes and tries to keep down the panic rising in his throat.

Minseok could be anywhere in the city, potentially alone, potentially in danger. He might be injured, maybe even stranded somewhere because of it. Luhan can think of a few places in back streets where someone could hide out for a while, but anything could happen in the time it would take him to check each of them.

Going to the police isn’t an option, because Luhan doesn’t actually have any evidence that Minseok is missing at all - just some unanswered texts and his own word that Minseok’s house isn’t where he said it was. There’s only one person Luhan can think of that could help; someone who, last he checked, spends their nights beating up criminals and turning them into ice cubes. It might be a longshot, but Luhan figures it’s worth a try if it means finding Minseok.

He clings to the thought that his friend is somewhere safe for the time being, and hurries home.

 

\--

 

Of course, it’s not until he’s sneaking out of his bedroom window a few hours later that Luhan considers what could happen if things don’t go according to plan. Just because a superhero showed up in the nick of time once, he reasons, dropping carefully onto the lawn outside, doesn’t mean they’ll do it a second time. Still, the thought doesn’t stop Luhan from steeling himself against the cold night air and sprinting across the street, slipping into the first alley opening he finds.

He wanders around the dark streets for a while, not really sure what he should be looking for. Most superheroes - in everything Luhan has read and watched, anyway - come with some sort of calling card, and yet this one doesn’t even have a name, as far as Luhan knows. He considers nicknames as he walks, but things like  _Mr. Freeze_  or  _Captain Cold_  don’t seem to suit the graceful way that his hero had moved, or the gentleness of his touch.

He’s torn away from his thoughts by a shout from closeby, and he follows the sound of what he supposes is ensuing violence until he turns a corner and happens upon the disturbance. In the middle of the alleyway, two figures are circling each other in fighting stances. Luhan is relieved to see the familiar silver symbol on the chest of one of them, but doesn’t quite feel lucky about happening upon the superhero so quickly - not when the man fighting him is easily twice his size.

Peeking out from the corner, Luhan tries not to gasp when the superhero is grabbed by the shoulders and almost thrown to the ground, and watches in awe as he manages to straighten up and grasp the thug’s wrists. Even from as far back as he is, Luhan can see ice crystals spreading up the man’s arms, and eventually he lets go of the superhero in favour of trying to shake the cold off. Distracted, he doesn’t notice the superhero’s foot flying at him until it’s hitting him in the side of the head, and he slumps to the ground unconscious.

The superhero dusts himself off with a huff, rubbing one of his shoulders where the man had grabbed him as he turns to leave. Luhan almost forgets to move, but manages to stumble into the alley before the superhero gets too far away. He has a moment of worry, as the superhero whirls around to face him, that he won’t be recognized, but the superhero barely has his fists raised before he realizes that Luhan isn’t another opponent to fight, and relaxes.

“What are you doing here?” he asks, not sounding half as surprised as Luhan thought he would be.

“I,” Luhan squeaks. He clears his throat and tries again. “I was looking for you.”

The superhero pauses, blinking at him - or Luhan imagines that he does, underneath the mask. It hits him, suddenly, that this is a pretty dumb idea. Why would a superhero want to help him, especially when he’s already saved Luhan’s life once? If anything, Luhan is in his debt, not the other way around.

Still, the superhero seems to be waiting for some elaboration. Luhan ignores his uncertainties and thinks of Minseok instead.

“I need your help,” he says, hoping his voice sounds stronger than he feels. “My friend is missing. He stopped coming to school, he won’t answer his phone, his house isn’t where he said it was--”

“That doesn’t mean he’s gone missing, necessarily,” the superhero points out, crossing his arms.

Luhan scowls at him. “What else could’ve happened?”

The superhero shrugs. “Maybe he switched schools, or moved away from the city, or--”

“But he--” Luhan cuts him off, too loud in the quiet alley. He takes a deep breath, steadying himself. “He wouldn’t have left without telling me.”

Doubt creeps into his mind as soon as he says it - would Minseok have told him? Did Luhan matter enough? - but he does his best to push it down. The way the superhero is staring at him, not saying anything, doesn’t encourage him much.

“Please,” Luhan says eventually, bowing his head a little. “You’re the only one who can help.”

He stands silently for a few long seconds before the superhero sighs, and Luhan looks up just in time to see him turn away.

“Go home, Luhan,” he says, and Luhan feels his stomach drop somewhere around his knees. “You shouldn’t be out here.”

He steps away into the dark before Luhan can say anything, leaving him alone in the alley. The air suddenly feels too cold to breathe in.

Luhan stands still just a bit longer before turning back the way he had come. He’s not entirely sure why he had thought he could count on some guy in a mask - but he pushes down the rising bitterness before it can distract him. Minseok could be anywhere, and Luhan is going to search until he finds him, even if he has to do it alone.

 

\--

 

The next night is colder but Luhan goes out anyway, flashlight in hand and a vague route mapped out in his head. He has no precise area pinpointed - Minseok’s house not being his real house kind of threw things off - but he has some places in mind, and figures if he doesn’t find anything he can move on to a different district in the city.

He starts with older buildings, ones that are supposed to be abandoned and empty, skulking around and trying not to wake any squatters with his flashlight beam. A lot of the inside walls have been torn down, making each floor a wide open space that’s fairly easy to search. Even with no luck after the first few and the night only growing colder and darker, Luhan is determined to find some sign that his friend is alright.

The next area he checks is a building under construction, with various materials stacked and scattered around the outside. Looking up from the ground, Luhan can see that some of the upper floors don’t even have walls beyond sheets of plastic fluttering in the night breeze. It’s a little ominous, but Luhan doesn’t let that stop him.

The first floor is empty, Luhan’s flashlight only catching scraps and tools strewn about. His footsteps sound loud against the concrete floor. He slowly makes his way up the stairwell, pausing at the second floor landing to listen carefully. The windows don’t have glass in them yet, and he can hear the wind between the buildings outside.

There’s a sudden noise from the floor above him, and Luhan timidly shines his flashlight up the next staircase. It could’ve just been something falling over, but what if it was a voice? Luhan’s heart speeds up a little, and he tries his best to climb the stairs quickly but quietly. At the next landing he pauses, listening for the noise again. It’s definitely a voice; a little too far away for him to make out words but loud enough that he can follow the sound. Luhan hurries forward out of the stairwell, a bit of hope rising in his chest - and walks right into someone coming around the corner.

He falls backward and lands hard on the ground, losing his grip on his flashlight and sending it spinning away from him. In the thin beam it sends from wherever it ends up, Luhan can just barely make out the person he collided with: a man, taller than him by at least a head, definitely glaring down at him and  _definitely_  not Minseok.

“The fuck d’you think you’re doing?” the man growls, and Luhan manages to scramble halfway to his feet before a hand in his hair tugs him roughly back down. Fisting his other hand in the collar of Luhan’s jacket, the man drags him across the floor, taking him, Luhan guesses, to whatever part of the building he had come from.

Luhan is suddenly not so sure he wants to know who the voice he had heard belongs to.

He figures, as he scrabbles at the hand tugging sharply at his scalp, that maybe he should’ve seen this coming. He hasn’t exactly had the best luck with back streets as of late, and he probably should have known that empty buildings ideal for hiding out would actually be used by gangs for exactly that - but he didn’t, and now his flashlight is so far away he can’t see the beam anymore, and he can hear the voice getting louder and louder until it cuts off suddenly and he’s tossed forward onto the concrete floor.

“What do we have here?” someone above him asks. Luhan pushes himself up on his elbows and glances around, taking in as much of the room as he can in the dark. There’s at least five men around him, maybe more farther back in the shadows, and he’s been thrown into the center of the circle they’re standing in. The one in front of him, who had spoken, taps his foot against the floor.

“A rat,” the man who had dragged him in answers gruffly, and Luhan shivers.

“He alone?”

“Seems like it.”

The man in front hums. Luhan guesses that he’s the one in charge. He’s happened upon a group meeting of some sort, then, and there’s probably nothing friendly about whatever they had been discussing. He can feel the leader’s eyes on him, but doesn’t let himself look up.

“Not worth worrying about,” the man says decisively, nudging Luhan sharply with his foot. Luhan bites back a grunt of pain. “Although, someone should teach him a lesson… Didn’t anyone tell you it’s rude to eavesdrop?”

“I wasn’t,” Luhan says weakly, voice cracking, and an amused murmur goes around the circle.

“Make it quick,” the leader says, ignoring him. Luhan watches him step back into the dark, making room for the rest of the men to crowd around. One cracks his knuckles, and a wave of panic hits Luhan like a truck.

He tries to focus on finding a way out, but he can see the men shuffling closer at the edges of his vision, their dark laughter ringing in his ears and making it hard to breathe. Curling up as small as he can, Luhan squeezes his eyes shut and braces himself for the first blow.

But, it doesn’t come.

It takes Luhan a few seconds to realize that the building is silent once again. He opens his eyes and looks up cautiously, flinching when he sees the men still in a circle around him, but they’re not moving anymore. Everyone in the room is frozen in place - literally frozen, Luhan realizes after he blinks a few times, and even in the dark he can see frost glistening on their outstretched arms.

He sits up carefully, about to test his wobbly legs when someone calls his name. A second later, a familiar masked figure ducks his way past the frozen circle and comes to crouch by Luhan’s side.

“Are you hurt?” the superhero asks, lightly brushing over Luhan’s shoulders and down his arms, searching for injury. He sighs in relief when he doesn’t find anything. “Come on,” he says, pulling Luhan to his feet. “We need to get out of here before they defrost.”

His hand is cold on Luhan’s wrist, and Luhan’s brain finally catches up.

“What are you doing here?” he demands, glaring as the superhero leads him away from the room. “I thought you didn’t want to help me.” The superhero doesn’t answer, keeping Luhan behind him as he checks around corners. They’re heading in a direction different from the way Luhan had come in, but he hardly notices. “Yesterday you ignored me, and now you’re following me around or something?”

“Uh,” the superhero says as they hurry down the stairs back to the ground floor. “Can this wait?”

“No,” Luhan says, voice rising. “I need to find my friend, I don’t have time for this!” As soon as they step out onto the street, he tugs his wrist out of the superhero’s grip.

“Luhan,” the superhero starts, reaching for him again, but Luhan cuts him off.

“Don’t,” he growls, actually feeling angry for once - he guesses it’s to do with near-death adrenaline mixing with the sickening worry that’s been with him all week.

“Listen to me--”

“No!” Luhan shouts, echoes travelling up the quiet street. “Tell me what’s going on here, or leave me alone!”

The superhero moves forward suddenly, shoving Luhan back against the wall of the building and knocking some of the breath out of him. He keeps one hand pressed against Luhan’s chest and pulls his mask off with the other.

“It’s  _me_ , okay,” Minseok says, exasperated. Luhan stares at him.

For a moment, their breathing seems to be the loudest thing in the entire city - as if everything else has gone silent for a few beats, just so Luhan can register that yes, it is actually Minseok standing in front of him. He pushes Minseok’s hand away and crushes him in a hug instead.

Minseok hesitates but eventually brings his hands up to Luhan’s shoulders, and at the touch Luhan pushes him back to arms-length. Minseok blinks at him.

“A week,” Luhan half-yells. “A whole week I had to go through! Why didn’t you answer your phone? I even went to your house - which, by the way, what the hell? And I went to the, the  _superhero_  and asked-- I-- you--”

“Luhan,” Minseok says, letting him take a moment to get his breath back. “Not here, okay? We’ll talk, but not here.”

He steps back and holds out his hand to Luhan and Luhan doesn’t hesitate to take it, squeezing his fingers even when the cold starts to sting.

 

\--

 

Luhan lets Minseok lead him through the city until they come to a tall, darkened building that doesn’t seem to have much except an empty lobby and a sketchy service elevator. Said service elevator works, though, and travels smoothly enough as the two of them go up through the floors. It helps that Minseok doesn’t let go of Luhan’s hand the whole way up.

Some lights start to flick on as they get higher, and the floor they eventually stop on is brightly lit. Minseok leads Luhan out of the elevator and into a small apartment that looks nothing like the dilapidated lower floors. It’s normal enough; a tiny kitchen in one corner next to a door that Luhan assumes leads to a bathroom, a couch and coffee table, and another door that’s open with a bed visible through the doorway. There’s also one wall entirely covered in papers and maps, and next to that, an open closet that looks a little high-tech to put normal clothes in. Standard superhero hideout. Luhan can’t bring himself to be surprised.

Minseok takes him over to the small kitchen table and pulls out a chair for him. “Let me get changed, okay?” he says, and Luhan nods, realizing that he’s still wearing the suit with the snowflake crest. Minseok smiles, squeezing his fingers once more, then lets go of his hand and trots off towards the bathroom. After a few seconds, Luhan hears the shower running.

It doesn’t take long for him to get antsy. He stands up and stretches, wandering around the main room and eventually over to the covered wall. The maps pinned up are of different parts of the city, he notices, surrounded by newspaper clippings and photos of various people. Some photos have Xs drawn over them, and Luhan recognizes some of the faces as criminals that had been in the newspaper recently, arrested. The maps are covered in markings as well, certain areas circled or crossed out. Luhan finds the map with his neighbourhood on it, and runs his fingers over the red outline drawn around his house.

The shower shuts off suddenly, and Luhan scrambles across the room to sit down again before the bathroom door opens and Minseok steps out, looking a sight more normal in sweatpants and an oversized shirt. He pads over to the weird closet and hangs up the jumpsuit, tucking his mask and gloves away in a drawer. It’s strange to look at without a person wearing it, and Luhan is glad Minseok closes the closet doors before joining him at the kitchen table.

He isn’t angry anymore, not really, just relieved that Minseok is alright. Still, some answers would be nice.

“So,” Minseok says, sitting down across from him.

“So,” Luhan repeats. Minseok smiles a little sheepishly and looks down at the tabletop.

“Maybe this will be easier if I start,” he suggests, running a hand through his damp hair and letting out a long breath. “Well.

“My name is Kim Minseok. I  _am_  from Korea, and I  _did_  get transferred here. Just… not in the way you’d expect, I guess.” He glances up at Luhan, and back down. “This city… it’s dangerous. I know you of all people don’t need me to tell you that, but. The streets aren’t safe anymore, not for anyone.

“I’m part of an - an organization that tries to provide solutions to problems like your city has. There are a whole group of us available to get stationed in different places around the world that need help.”

“And by ‘us’,” Luhan says slowly, “you mean…?”

“People like me,” Minseok says, extending one of his hands over the table. Luhan watches as ice crystals gather in his palm, solidifying into a prism shape. “There isn’t a word for it - at least, not a positive one. But we - in the organization, we found each other, and we’re just… doing our best.” Luhan tears his gaze away from Minseok’s hand to watch his face instead. “Using our powers to help.”

“Can all of them do what you do?” Luhan asks, and Minseok shakes his head.

“I’m the only one with this,” he says. “We’re all different - our powers, I mean. One of the guys looking after Seoul can call up flames out of nowhere, and in another district there’s someone with electric pulses... It depends on the person.”

Luhan nods carefully. He can deal with real-life superheroes. It’s not a big deal.

It’s kind of a big deal. It’s kind of flipping his entire world on its head right now. But he can deal with it.

“I got sent here to help your city,” Minseok continues, the prism still building in his palm. “But because of my age, I couldn’t really wander the streets in the middle of the day. Transferring into your school was part of my cover.”

Frowning, Luhan looks up at him. “Then the house I walked you to--”

“--was never my actual house, no.” Minseok smiles apologetically. “I couldn’t exactly lead you to this place, though. I just waited in front of that house until you left.”

Thinking back, Luhan realizes that he never did see Minseok actually go inside…

“But you walked with me every day,” Luhan says, confused. “You could’ve just shaken me off and saved yourself the extra distance.”

Minseok shrugs. “I liked talking to you,” he admits, eyes back on the tabletop. “It can get lonely, being stationed in a city on your own. Walking with you was like… a little break from that.”

Luhan feels himself blushing and looks down at his hands in his lap. “So why’d you disappear?” he mumbles, and the prism evaporates as Minseok retracts his hand.

It’s quiet for a few seconds, and Luhan peeks up at Minseok to see that he’s twisting his fingers together on the table, brow furrowed. “The first time,” he starts, softer than before, “with the guys in the alley, when you hit your head… It was by chance that I was there and got to you in time. And it really struck me, after I brought you home, that it’s really-- it’s not safe. Not just for you, but for everyone. Even me. And I didn’t--” He pauses, looking up at Luhan. “I don’t want you to get caught up in this. I don’t want you to get hurt again.”

Luhan reaches across the table and puts his hand over Minseok’s, feeling his fingers unclench at his touch. “I don’t want you to get hurt, either,” he tells him, and Minseok smiles weakly. “When you disappeared,” Luhan goes on, struggling a little with the words, “I thought-- maybe you’d gone somewhere alone and-- and--”

He can’t finish the thought, biting his lip and looking down, but Minseok reaches out and cups his cheek. “I won’t disappear again,” he says, half a whisper, and carefully leans in to press his lips to Luhan’s.

Luhan closes his eyes, the contrast between Minseok’s warm mouth and cold fingers making him shiver. Minseok pulls back after only a few seconds, but keeps his hand hovering near Luhan’s jaw.

“Okay?” he asks, and Luhan isn’t sure if he means the kissing or the not-disappearing, but he’s alright with both of them.

“Okay,” he agrees, and Minseok smiles a little shyly before leaning in again.

Sighing into Minseok’s mouth, Luhan feels all the worry and doubt from the last few days finally leave him. He tilts his head slightly, pressing closer, and Minseok smiles against his lips. They kiss slowly, lips only ever parting for a second or two before reconnecting softly. Luhan is pretty sure he could kiss Minseok forever.

Eventually, though, Minseok pulls back again, stroking his thumb over Luhan’s cheekbone before letting his hand drop. “Are you tired?” he asks, and Luhan nods, his eyelids suddenly feeling very heavy. Minseok stands and pulls Luhan up with him, linking their fingers together. Luhan glances at the clock over the stove and grimaces at the small hour of the morning displayed there.

“Just sleep here,” Minseok offers, following his gaze. “Even if its only for a few hours. I can take you back to your house before the sun comes up.”

Luhan agrees, and waits for Minseok to turn off all the lights in the apartment before taking his hand again and following him to the bedroom.

Minseok’s bed has more than enough room for two people, and Luhan kicks off his jeans before sliding under the covers on one side. He watches Minseok close the blinds over the window, trying his best to keep his eyes open.

“Don’t put your feet anywhere near mine,” he mumbles as Minseok pulls back the covers on the other side of the bed. “Your hands are always freezing, so your toes are probably worse.”

Minseok snickers. “Yeah, it comes with the frost thing. Sorry.” Luhan watches as he gets under the blankets, presumably adjusting to keep his feet away from Luhan’s legs.

“I knew there was something about you when I first saw you,” Luhan says softly, “but I can honestly say I wasn’t expecting anything like this.”

Laughing a little, Minseok turns onto his side to face Luhan. “You like it, though.”

“Yeah, I like it,” Luhan says. He closes his eyes and finds Minseok’s hand under the blankets. “I like you.”

He hears Minseok hum something in response, and falls asleep with the feeling of soft lips on his cheek.

 

\--

 

The sun isn’t up yet when Luhan wakes, but Minseok is, already dressed and standing by the window to look out at the city. He turns around when Luhan sits up, a smile immediately curving his lips.

“Sorry, did I wake you up?” he asks, crossing the room to stand beside the bed. “You’ve still got about twenty minutes, if you want to go back to sleep.”

“No, it’s okay,” Luhan says, rubbing his eyes with a yawn. When he drops his hands, he sees Minseok climbing onto the bed to sit next to him. “How long were we asleep for?”

“Not long enough,” Minseok laughs. “Do you want to shower?”

Luhan shakes his head, pulling the sheets back and standing up to find his jeans where he had dropped them earlier. Once he pulls them back on, he lies down on top of the covers beside Minseok, and Minseok leans back to join him. Luhan watches as he reaches up with one hand, his slender fingers gathering frost as he holds them up in the air. The ice draws out a pattern along the back of his hand, catching the glow from the city outside the window and scattering bits of light across the ceiling.

Luhan closes his eyes for just a moment, trying to imprint the image in his mind, but the next thing he knows, Minseok is nudging him awake and telling him it’s time to go.

 

\--

 

True to his word, Minseok does get Luhan back to his house before the sun is up. The sky is just beginning to colour when they climb the front steps and pause in front of the door. It feels weirdly familiar, saying goodbye there, but Luhan figures that this time is better than the first.

“Will you come back to school?” he asks, holding both of Minseok’s hands between his own as if trying to warm them up. Minseok shrugs.

“I haven’t been for a whole week,” he says with a sigh. “I’d have to catch up.”

“I could help you,” Luhan says immediately, and Minseok laughs, gently pulling his hands away.

“Maybe. We’ll see. For now, go get a little more sleep, okay?” Luhan nods. As much as he wants to stay outside with Minseok, he’s also still coming down from the excitement of the night before, and can practically hear his bed calling to him.

Still, he waits for Minseok to say something else - like, goodnight? Or good morning? Maybe with his mouth on Luhan’s mouth? But Minseok just smiles and makes a shooing gesture, ushering Luhan inside. Luhan can’t help smiling back, and tries not to feel too disappointed as he slips through the front door.

He climbs the stairs as quietly as he can, determined not to wake his parents. Once he’s in his own room with the door closed behind him, he lets out a long sigh and flops down on his bed. He should probably change out of his clothes before sleeping, considering he’s already slept in them once. In just a moment, Luhan decides, after he takes a little bit of time to let his heart slow down.

A sudden breeze ruffles his hair, and he looks up confusedly to see Minseok sliding his window open.

“Uh,” he starts, watching Minseok climb smoothly through the opening and land soundlessly with his feet on the floor. “Hi, again.”

Minseok just smiles, striding over to him. “Forgot something,” he says, and tugs Luhan forward by the collar to kiss him hard.

He takes all of Luhan’s breath with him when he pulls away, but only grins at him before climbing back to the window and perching on the edge of the sill.

“See you on Monday,” Minseok says, and disappears.

Luhan shivers in the wind left swirling around his room, but finds himself smiling at the cold. He leaves the window open.

 

 


	2. all i can do is freeze

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luhan just wants snow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this isnt rly a full chapter im sry.... i had this scene in mind for like 6 full months after posting the original fic

“This is awful,” Luhan complains, glaring up at the clear sky. 

Next to him, Minseok rolls his eyes, swinging their joined hands between them as they walk. The two of them had left the library late after spending most of the afternoon there, which seemed to happen more and more often as the weather got colder and Luhan’s desire to be outside dwindled down to nearly nothing. It doesn’t help that the early evening is dark as well as freezing, thanks to the short daylight hours of winter.

“The _worst_ ,” Luhan insists, repeating it for the third time since they left the library.

“It’s not even below zero,” Minseok laughs. “Your house isn’t that far. You’ll make it, I promise.”

“I could handle winter temperatures if it at least _looked_ like winter,” Luhan whines, shoving his free hand into his pocket. “If it’s gonna be so cold, why can’t it just snow?”

Minseok hums, grazing his fingertips along the sides of the buildings they pass, leaving a trail of frost. “If you want snow so bad, maybe you should live somewhere else. Yifan was talking about Canada earlier.”

“Yifan _always_ talks about Canada,” Luhan says, rolling his eyes.

Minseok shrugs. “It sounds nice.”

“Anything sounds nice compared to here,” Luhan huffs, then looks over at Minseok with a pout. “Your icy fingers aren’t helping.”

Minseok gives him a playful glare. “If my hand is too cold for you, then you can let go.”

Luhan tightens his grip instead. “Can’t you, like, shoot some snow out? Think about it,” he says, a smile spreading across his face. “We could build a snowman and freak out my neighbours.”

“I’m… not supposed to use it for things like that,” Minseok says, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Things like what? Having fun?” Luhan scoffs. “It’s _your_ power. You should use it however you want to.”

Minseok looks away, his smile fading in discomfort. “Luhan--”

“No, I get it,” Luhan sighs, deflating. “You’re supposed to blend in, and a snowstorm would definitely blow your cover. I know.”

“It’s not just--” Minseok starts, but he cuts off, biting his lip.

They’re stopped on the sidewalk now, already in front of Luhan’s house. Luhan waits for Minseok to continue, but he looks away again instead, ducking his head so Luhan can’t catch his gaze. Luhan just smiles, sliding his hand out of Minseok’s grip and stepping in closer, and ducks down as well to lean in for their routine goodbye-kiss.

“I don’t care about my cover,” Minseok blurts, before their lips can connect. Luhan pulls back to give him a confused look. “When I use my power around you, it links you to me,” he continues in a rush. “If someone notices and connects the dots, you could be in danger.”

“I’m sorry I asked,” Luhan says jokingly, taking a step back, but Minseok grabs his hand again.

“I’m serious,” he says, tugging Luhan back. “I know the city’s been quiet recently, but that doesn’t mean it will stay that way for long. We have to be careful.” His fingers tighten around Luhan’s, somehow seeming even colder than before. “If anything happened to you, I’d--”

Luhan cuts him off with a kiss. It takes a few moments, but Minseok eventually relaxes enough to kiss back, pressing maybe a little harder than he needs to, but Luhan doesn’t mind. He pulls away only when Minseok has sighed all the tension out of his shoulders, and stays close enough to easily swoop in again if need be.

“I know you’re worried,” Luhan murmurs. “Let’s forget I said anything, okay?”

Minseok sighs again. “I’m just… I don’t mean to freak out. Sorry.”

Luhan squeezes his fingers. “I’m sorry for pushing it.”

“It’s alright,” Minseok says, and leans in to kiss him again.

It still amazes Luhan that his mouth is so warm when his hands are so cold. Minseok hums against his lips when he shivers, and pulls back to smile at him.

“Go inside and warm up,” he says, letting go of Luhan’s hand.

Luhan smiles sheepishly and steps away, sliding both hands into his pockets. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight,” Minseok echoes, and Luhan turns to head up the driveway toward his house.

He gets almost all the way to his front door before something cold lands on his face. Startled, Luhan looks up. The sky is dark, but in the glow from nearby streetlights he can see… snow falling. Just tiny flakes, nothing that will stick to the ground, but snow nonetheless.

When he turns around, Minseok is still on the sidewalk, smiling shyly at him.

Luhan walks back over slowly. Snowflakes catch in his hair and melt on his cheeks, but he can’t keep the grin off his face. “This is you, right?” he asks quietly, and Minseok nods. “Didn’t you just say that you can’t use it for stuff like this?”

“Well,” Minseok sighs, stepping closer to Luhan and brushing the snowflakes out of his hair, “it’s my power, after all. And I want to.” He pauses, catching Luhan’s gaze and holding it. “For you.”

Luhan breathes a laugh, slipping his hands out of his pockets to settle on Minseok’s waist instead. “Just for me?”

“Only for you,” Minseok says as Luhan leans in. His breath is cold but his lips are warm, and the snow falls only on them.


End file.
